Domino's Chief Executive Calls Menu Labeling Step in "Wrong Direction"

President and CEO Patrick Doyle says that the "one-size-fits-all" approach will be expensive and ineffective for businesses to implement.

August 19, 2011

WASHINGTON - Earlier this week Domino€™s President and CEO Patrick Doyle commented in The Hill that the government can €" and must €" do better when it comes to costly menu-labeling regulations.

"Regrettably, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a one-size-fits-all approach that will be both expensive to implement and ineffective, imposing high costs on businesses without improving consumer information," he said, in reference to proposed menu-labeling regulations contained in the health-care reform law. The regulations would require most convenience store chains with 20 or more outlets to post calorie counts on menus and next to self-service food items, and also have additional nutrition information available to consumers upon request.

Doyle said that the pizza chain€™s main concern is that the proposed rules represent an "expensive step in the wrong direction," noting that the regulations would require Domino€™s franchises to provide calorie information on in-store menu boards would cost each store thousands of dollars every year (starting at $1,600 and going up to $4,700 per year).

In New York and in other municipalities where menu labeling is already mandated, Doyle said that the stores have seen "no change in customer ordering behavior." Also, because the FDA "unsatisfactorily addresses the challenges posed by customizable or 'variable menu items€™ like pizza," Domino€™s would have to label entire pizzas and provide a calorie range that could be as wide as 2,000 calories.

"How is that helpful?" questioned Doyle, noting that the "beauty of pizza is that is can be customized to individual preferences and nutritional needs. Given our various options for size, crust, sauce, cheese and toppings, there are over 34 million ways to order a Domino€™s pizza. Moreover, we know that for Domino€™s customers, pizza is a shared meal, and we know from experience and research that our customers prefer nutrition information by the slice, as it is equivalent to the "serving size" found on all packaged goods."

Doyle also notes that the proposed regs are unfair to small business owners: "While Domino's is a global brand, the reality is that we are a network of small, family-owned businesses. The average Domino's franchisee owns four stores, and half of our U.S. operators only own one store. Yet because they are affiliated with a 'chain,€™ they have to bear the cost of the regulations whereas their independent in-town rival €" also a single store owner €" would not. When you factor in all of the restaurants that will not have to comply with the legislation, you soon discover that more than 70 percent of all restaurants in America will not have to share this cost burden. That imposes an unfair and significant economic disadvantage on our franchisees."

In closing, Doyle notes that Domino€™s believes that providing online access to nutritional information is streamlined solution to increasing consumer education.

"It is absurd to impose rules that will increase costs to business in a manner that will never be seen by 90 percent of our customers, and will be so confusing as to be ignored by the very few who ever see it," concluded Doyle, adding, "We strongly support the spirit of what the FDA is trying to provide to consumers. The FDA should let us continue to give customers relevant nutritional information where they actually order, in an efficient and fair way, so we can get back to growing our businesses."

Learn more about menu labeling and what NACS is doing in the Compliance Resource Center.

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